Rob Gronkowski turns in Patriots record 16th multi-touchdown game

Sunday

Rob Gronkowski is listed at 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds. No pumping up the numbers there as he’s every inch and pound of that, and perhaps a bit more.

FOXBORO — Rob Gronkowski is listed at 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds. No pumping up the numbers there as he’s every inch and pound of that, and perhaps a bit more.

Yet, one would have thought Gronk was the size of a gnat the way he rumbled through his routes and rambled past the Miami Dolphins’ defense on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.

Gronkowski frequently found himself wide open, and Tom Brady consistently capitalized, helping propel the surging Patriots to a 35-17 victory over the floundering Fins.

“That’s part of the schemes, part of the play calling, part of the run game helping out with the play action,” Gronkowski said. “When you get open like that it’s kind of set up previously. We were running the ball super good today. I think we had 200 yards rushing [close, 196], which is just an unbelievable job as an offense of the whole.

“But you just have to make those plays when you’re open, too. It was good. I like games like that.”

Brady misfired on the first two passes he sent Gronkowski’s way. Same goes for the last.

But in between, Gronkowski caught all five balls he was targeted for. He made the most of his opportunities, collecting 82 yards, two touchdowns and three additional first downs.

Gronkowski had receptions of 21, 20, 21, and 15 yards, giving him 13 receptions of 20-plus yards this season. That ranks second among all tight ends, one behind the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce.

While Brady disappointed Gronkowski by not saving him any of the biscuits he made for Thanksgiving dinner, he knew enough to feed the big guy Sunday.

“Anything he wants I usually try to get for him, so anything to keep him happy,” Brady said, his tone both lighthearted and earnest. “He did such a great job today, played really hard. He’s played hard all season, just done a great job for our team.”

Gronkowski got a free release and then overpowered safety Reshed Jones, who was giving away 5 inches and 42 pounds, before hauling in a 5-yard pass for his first TD to extend the lead to 13-0 with 5:33 left in the first quarter.

Gronkowski was free and clear on his second score thanks to some nifty teamwork with receiver Brandin Cooks, the end result being a 15-yard TD that upped the advantage to 27-10 with 10:28 left in the third.

“When the play was called I put my hand down and saw it was zone,” Gronkowski said. “It’s either if the safety comes and takes me, Cooks gets the ball, or if the safety takes Cooks, I get the ball. So it just worked out good and it made Cooks, obviously, clear out.

“He did an unbelievable job running his route full speed with the post clearing everyone out and I just came through with a little patience and Tom made a nice throw and just played the play.”

It was the 16th multi-touchdown game of Gronkowski’s career, good for a franchise record. It should be noted Gronkowski needed 98 games to get there while it took Randy Moss 52 games to post 15 games with two-plus TDs for the Patriots.

Prior to his signature spike, Gronkowski waited while receiver Danny Amendola cleaned off an area of turf. It was one of the few instances this season of the Patriots taking advantage of the league’s loosening of touchdown celebrations.

It was more of the same late in the game following a TD by Cooks, who hopped on Gronkowski for a piggyback ride.

Apparently, the end zone ebullience didn’t sit well with a certain coach. And that, in turn, left Gronkowski in a quandary.

“We got yelled at; we’re not allowed to talk about celebrations,” he said. “That’s what we got told. But I kind of want to talk about it, but I kind of don’t. So I don’t know what to do. But it just happened on the spot. It wasn’t planned, so we’ll leave it there.”